ABSTRACT
This study focuses on the high-resolution reconstruction of land use and forest history and the changes of vegetation connected to the erection and use of megalithic graves at Krähenberg in Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany. Pollen analysis of a peat core from a small mire directly neighbouring the graves was performed in connection with the analysis of archaeological data. A chronological framework is provided by 14C AMS radiocarbon dating. Analysis of known archaeological records using GIS-technique provides information of the intensity and time periods of human activities in the study area. The megaliths in close vicinity of the investigated mire present a clearly visible evidence of anthropogenic use during the middle Neolithic. The pollen diagram shows the vegetation development of the study site from the end of the Atlantic, Subboreal and early Subatlantic period. A small forest opening is suggested around 3500 BC, possibly in connection with the construction of the megaliths, but there is no strong evidence of considerable woodland clearances. The archaeological data indicate that human impact in the area took place during the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and Iron Age, which is corroborated by the pollen record, suggesting that human impact in the study area occurred periodically from the end of the Atlantic period, with an increasing intensity during the Bronze Age.
